As Jeremy Campbell has stated, "Archaeology is continually extending the history of human consciousness further back in time.".³⁴...Alexander Marshack has concluded that Neanderthal man had symbol systems which reflected a well-defined social structure and awareness of self and nature.³⁵...Their carved figures and markings on caves dating back to about 30,000 B.C. demonstrate a complex system of interrelated images and abstract notations. They truly had a rather sophisticated form of communication and information storage.³⁶

There is also evidence of a continued increasing consciousness within humankind, which will be presented in the next two chapters.

(8) Consciousness is not restricted to humans, but is found in other animals as well. Some evidence has already been cited in support of this statement. The biggest question relative to consciousness that needs to be answered is whether or not it exists in non-life forms.

For the purpose of discussion I have arbitrarily divided intelligence and consciousness into organic and inorganic types. This, as indicated earlier, is an artificial distinction, but allows us to explore both possibilities with greater clarity. Let us first finish dealing with organic consciousness, which is restricted to life forms.

Some evidence has already been cited which would suggest that consciousness is present in higher non-human primates as well as certain other mammals. In addition, Konrad Lorenz provides further insight into the proposed consciousness of certain mammals. He believes that some animal species have become "self-exploratory," which he sees as a new evolutionary step in cognition and awareness. This gives the animal an awareness of the self in relation to the surrounding universe. He believes the cat that grooms itself has an awareness of its own being, and monkeys grooming each other reveal an awareness of self as others see them.³⁷

Lyall Watson has given other examples of self-awareness in vertebrates, and points out that its presence requires both learning and memory and transcends space and time. It involves creation of mental images and models of the environment which include the subject.³⁸

There is most compelling evidence that consciousness is centered in some location other than the cerebral cortex, as based on a relatively recent discovery that many individuals with hydranencephaly have both relatively normal intelligence and consciousness. Hydranencephalic individuals have no cerebral cortex but can have apparently normal intelligence. One man in particular had a measured IQ of 126 and achieved a first-class honors degree in mathematics at Sheffield University. A CT scan demonstrated "virtually no brain." John Lorber of Sheffield University has studied hundreds of hydranencephalics with CT scans, many of whom had no significant loss of intelligence. He found that half of those who have lost 95% of their cranium to fluid have IQs greater than 100.³⁹...This gives undeniable evidence that the cerebral cortex is not nearly as vital to mental competence and consciousness as has been previously assumed. It also gives good support to the argument that many other animals have sufficient brain hardware to allow for the presence of consciousness.

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